Tim looked around the room. The room was cut into a hexagonal shape, and the back three sections were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. There must have been a few hundred brown books, at least a couple hundred red, and seventy or eighty black books.

  Tim realized Burke must have seen him staring at the black books because he then added, “Probationary members are only allowed access to common skills and spells. That is unless you have special permission from the guild master.”

  “Bummer. Well, let’s see what you’ve got then. Or do I pick up the books myself?”

  “Most certainly not”—Burke managed to sound scandalized as he answered—“as if I would ever let a grubby steel slinger touch such precious books. No, you tell me what your class is, and then I will grab you one book at a time. There is, however, one matter that we have to determine before you are allowed to look at the books. I assume that Master Simon has explained to you the costs associated. Have you decided how many slots you want to fill and how much you are willing to pay?”

  The gamer in Tim was too excited about the prospect of going through skill choices and forming his build to want to be bothered by this. In fact, he was rather annoyed. He simply reached into his soul pouch and pulled out stacks of 5 gold coins, and set 11 stacks along the edge of the pedestal. “I suppose this will be enough to buy a few skills.”

  The magistrate’s eyes bulged. “I thought you said he was a newly arrived 1st gen.”

  It was Simon’s turn to chuckle, and Tim got the sense that he had been used as a foil to get one over on the crotchety magistrate. “Oh, did I forget to mention that he was level 19? But seriously, I didn’t know that he had that much gold. Still, if he has paid for it, you better get him the warrior books. Looks like he will be going for all seven slots today. Well, besides the two that he already has.”

  Burke said nothing further. He simply went and got the first book and brought it to Tim for his perusal. Tim wasn’t sure what to expect, but he took the tome and cracked it open. He stood still for a moment before asking, “Is there a place that I can sit while I go through these. This may take some time.

  Simon answered before Burke could. “They won’t allow any extra chairs in here. Something about lazy sojourners spending all day looking through the tomes. You can ask me questions about skills, or I can provide some suggestions for you.”

  Tim sighed but decided not to let it spoil the mood as he mumbled, “Maybe in a minute.”

  The book was fascinating. The first two pages contained a single entry.

  AssessRarity: Common

  Pre-requisites: Sojourner, Acuity: 10

  Mana: 1 per 4 seconds

  Description: A general, multi-purpose skill that serves as a catch-all but inferior replacement to many other skills such as Identify, Appraisal, Enemy Sense, Find Trap, Microscopic Vision, and others. It will allow the user to gain additional information about a wide range of subjects.

  “So, what can you tell me about Assess?”

  “It is normally considered a junk skill only useful for beginning adventurers. I’ve never seen a level 19 with it, but it might be worth considering while you learn about Iocusinte. It will help you perform many tasks and is hard to explain until you actually try it out. Its description is vaguer than many other skills because it has such a broad range of uses. If you do take it, just make sure that you keep it in one of your lower slots so that it isn’t as costly to replace it.”

  “Okay, one other question. Well, actually two. It has Sojourner and Acuity 10 as prerequisites. Are there sojourner-only skills and I thought everyone started with 10 in all the 4 primary stats before adding extra points?” Tim asked.

  “Yes, many of the skills in here will be sojourner-only as they require mana to use. As far as the stat requirement, if you ever get a debuff and fall below 10 Acuities then you could not use the skill.”

  Tim simply nodded and dove back into the book. At some point over the next few hours, Simon left the room with instructions for Burke to summon him when Tim was done. After going through maybe half of the common skill books, he had narrowed it down to a handful of skills that he wanted to choose from.

  Burke answered questions only begrudgingly and as briefly as possible. That left Tim to rely upon his base of gamer knowledge, but he found that many parts of it carried over. He wanted to have some defensive skills as well as offensive, and he didn’t want to rule out general skills. It was hard because he didn’t know exactly what would be asked of him. It wasn’t like there was a Wiki that he could look up to see the best build. In the end, he wasn’t that worried about it. Tim figured that as soon as possible he would change at least some of the skills for higher-ranked abilities.

  Even with all of his looking, there were still pages that were indecipherable to him. He knew that there was writing on the page, but the images were too indistinct. Burke had told him that those pages contained skills he didn’t meet a prerequisite for.

  The other confusing issue was how some of the skills seemed to be for common everyday activities that he could have performed on his own. Two examples that stuck out in his mind were Hide and Sprint. When he asked the magistrate about this, the only answer he got was, “Sure you can sprint on your own, but you can’t Sprint.” The capital letter was obvious in the way he pronounced the word.

  So, he had narrowed it down to Assess, Sprint, Leap, Power Attack, Shield Proficiency, Quick Slash, Dodge, Improved Critical Strike, Tackle, Courage, Blind Fighting, Dark Vision, Cleaving Slash, and Bow Proficiency.

  At some point, he started to skip past the other choices. Tim realized that he already had more than he could fit in terms of skills. He also had no real way to determine how well these were going to work. What he needed was some newbie quests to test them out. That or maybe he could watch some other warriors in action.

  He decided that the first he was going to take was Assess. He definitely needed to learn more about the world. Burke asked him three times if he was sure. Then verified twice more if he was sure he wanted to do it without waiting for Simon to come back. After Tim insisted, he finally told him to sit on the floor.

  It seemed strange, but when he asked why he couldn’t just stand, the magistrate just laughed and said, “Do whatever you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  CHAPTER 10

  I THINK HE LIKES IT, MIKEY

  Deciding that now was not the time to test his luck, Tim sat down on the bare stone floor.

  “Place your hand on the ball at the end of the rod,” Burke said as he extended the training rod out. Tim decided not to say anything. He couldn’t be sure from the man’s face if he was messing with him or if it was just his own juvenile sense of humor.

  Either way, that thought was pushed out of his mind as soon as he placed his hand on the staff. Tim felt an immediate stabbing pain in his forehead. It was as though a railroad spike had been driven through his temple. A short, sharp cry escaped his lips as he bit down. The coppery taste of blood was in his mouth.

  Agony seared through his body. His muscles convulsed as he tasted blood and toppled over. Tim laid there, seizing, while a part of his mind wished that the agony would just end. He didn’t care how, he just wanted it to end. Neither death nor the blissful oblivion a loss of consciousness would have caused came to his rescue, and he felt the unending pulses of agony.

  His neurons fired, again and again, creating new patterns in his brain. Those neural pathways forged new connections in his body, going to his ears, eyes, and fingertips. The potential for sensitivity and detection increased dramatically, and he was flooded by new input.

  Without asking, he knew the stone that the floor was made of was Barovian limestone. He could tell the composition of the training rod was 1-part gold, 1-part mithril, and 1-part elementium. Knowledge about each of the gems set into the rod came to him from their relative value to the location they were mined from. Even an awareness of traps set into the wall and attached to the door became evident to him.

  Tim didn’t realize for a while that the pain had stopped until he finally noticed he wasn’t shaking, and his thoughts actually felt clear. He turned inward and saw that he now had the skill Assess on his list. He focused on the description. What he got differed slightly from the one that he had read in the book. There was a flashing notification, which was annoying him, so he checked on that first.

  Congratulations. Through the trial of pain, you have reshaped your body and added a new skill. Due to your trait, your skills, just as the rest of your existence, is never static but changes to reflect your level.

  Then he looked at the skill again.

  Master AssessRarity: Rare

  Pre-requisites: Sojourner, Acuity: 12, Level 17

  Mana: 4 per 4 seconds

  Description: Gives a detailed view of the value, composition, and crafting level of various materials. May probe defenses, enemies, or look for traps. Able to assess items up to master level and enemies up to level 16. The longer the skill is applied, the more information you may gain.

  Wow. Tim didn’t know much about skills, but that seemed like a big upgrade for such a basic skill. Of course, even though he wasn’t currently feeling any pain, even the lingering memory of the pain was enough to make him hesitant to take the next skill. Oddly, he knew that there was a tremendous amount of information crammed into his head, but he didn’t think he could access it apart from using the skill.

  “Can’t say that I have ever seen anyone flop around on the ground like a fish quite that much. That looked mighty uncomfortable,” Burke said.

  “Whatever it looked like, I assure you it was much worse on my end.”

  About this time Simon came back in. Tim looked up at him as he said, “I see you got to experience your first new skill. Don’t worry, they get easier after your body adapts to the process.”

  “I sure hope so. I’m not sure how many of those I could take.”

  “Surely, it wasn’t that bad for a big, powerful warrior like you,” Simon said.

  Before Tim could respond, Burke said, “It was like nothing I have ever seen. He was flopping around on the floor for like thirty minutes. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  “Thirty minutes… really?”

  “Yes, and he was spasming the whole time.”

  Simon looked at Tim. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, it wasn’t fun, but I can handle it. Now, I need to pick some more skills before I chicken out.”

  “Do you have some in mind?”

  “I narrowed it down to fourteen, but, of course, I only have four slots left,” Tim said, and then he listed the ones that he had in mind.

  Simon laughed. “Noobies always have trouble narrowing it down. After you change out skills a few times, you will get the feel for it and will plan out your build. To start out, I would recommend at least one movement skill and a ranged offense skill. Otherwise, you will be very limited as a warrior.”

  “I think I’m gonna go with Leap and Bow Proficiency then since I can always change them later.”

  “Those are good basic choices. I think you will be extremely interested once you get to look beyond the common skills, but those will help you to start out.” Tim listened to Simon while weighing in his head whether he should explain that Assess became a rare skill. Something about the message that he received though made him think it wasn’t normal, and so, at least for now, he decided to keep the information to himself.

  For the next hour, Tim once again went through the torture of learning the two new skills. When he finally sat up and wiped the spittle from his chin, he said, “I think it was getting a bit easier that last time.”

  “Could have fooled me,” Simon said. “That looked awful.”

  Tim couldn’t really disagree, so instead, he focused on the new skills.

  Explosive Leap Rarity: Unique

  Pre-requisites: Sojourner, Flexibility: 15, Hardiness: 20, Level 18

  Mana: 12 per leap

  Description: When activated, this skill allows the user to leap at incredible speeds for vertical distances of up to 1’/Hardiness point or 3’/Hardiness point horizontally. The distance of the leap will be traveled in a fraction of a second, but the leaper’s body will travel through the entire arc. May carry up to 10 lbs./Hardiness point beyond leaper’s body weight.

  Warning: Potential for serious injury exists upon deceleration.

  Bow MasteryRarity: Rare

  Pre-requisites: Sojourner, Flexibility: 18, Hardiness: 15, Tank or Damage-Dealer Class Tree, Level: 16

  Description: Base weapon accuracy of any bow type is increased by 300%. Base weapon damage of any bow type is increased by 100%. Critical strike chance with any bow type is increased by 10%. Base weapon range of any bow type is increased by 50%. Base weapon rate of fire of any bow type is increased by 100%.

  “Why does he spend so much time looking at the skills? They are only common skills. There isn’t that much information to absorb?” Tim heard Burke asking Simon. He didn’t focus on what the answer was, but the question itself affirmed he should keep this information to himself. Apparently, what happened to the skills after he got them was not normal at all.

  That made him curious, and he took a second to compare the two skills he had after the test. He wondered how they stacked up against the ones he had just gotten.

  Grand Master SwordRarity: Rare

  Pre-requisites: Sojourner, Flexibility: 17, Hardiness: 22, Tank or Damage-Dealer Class Tree, Level: 19

  Description: Base weapon accuracy of any sword type is increased by 400%. Base weapon damage of any sword type is increased by 150%. Critical strike chance with any sword type is increased by 15%. Other sword skills are increased by 30% automatically.

  Heavy Armor ProficiencyRarity: Common

  Pre-requisites: Hardiness: 12, Tank or Damage-Dealer Class Tree

  Description: Ability to wear heavy armor without excessive penalties. Movement only reduced by 25%. Swimming movement reduced by 80%. Base defensive value of armor is fully realized.

  Well, that cleared up quite a bit for him. Rare skills were tremendously more powerful than common skills. As for the unique skill, who would have thought that he would be excited about a leaping skill? Even with the warning, Tim had to admit that he was very curious to see what he could do with a skill like that.

  Now, all that remained was to pick the last two skills. He opened his eyes and asked Simon, “Any recommendations for the last two skill slots?”

  “Perhaps my first question would be to ask if you really need to fill them now. Those two slots are what cost most your gold. Most new sojourners are level 1 when they start with the guild, and even most 1st gen don’t have more than 4 skills, maybe 5 to start out. It might be better to learn those skills first.”

  When Tim frowned at that answer, Simon added, “But if you are truly determined to spend your gold, I am sure that Caesar will appreciate the donation. You should probably add one defensive and one offensive skill. Since you don’t yet know your fighting style, it is a bit harder to pin those choices down.”

  “I am thinking Shield Proficiency rather than Dodge because there may be times I can’t dodge but instead have to stand toe-to-toe with an enemy. It seems like it will fit with more options.”

  “That is a practical decision, and as a skill, it will probably be easier for you to learn. Just remember that replacing a skill in your 6th or 7th slot is going to be expensive. Now, maybe you can explain why you put Darkvision and Blind Fighting on your list?”

  “Simple enough. I never really had a reason to fight on Earth. My military service didn’t even involve any actual combat, but I played video games all the time that were like this world. Besides underwater levels, the thing I hated the most was not being able to see in a dark place. I don’t know how relevant it will be here, but I figure that is something I should take into consideration.”

  “It would give you one less skill to use in combat, but it would also be very easy to apply. However, I can’t help but think you are going to be very upset when you have to pay the cost to replace it,” Simon said.

  “Yeah, you’ve made that point. I guess I will just have to grin and bear it.”

  “It’s your gold.”

  Tim just said, “Okay, let’s do this before I remember how much it hurt before.”

  The pain seemed slightly better this time, although it still made him yearn for that time he had broken both legs when he had jumped out of his treehouse on a dare. The best thing about this pain was that it faded. He had to wonder if it would give him nightmares. Oh well, he couldn’t worry about that now. He had little enough control over his life as it was. Besides, he had new skills to look at, and if anything would take away the pain for a gamer, it would be new goodies to look at.

  Shield Adept

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Pre-requisites: Sojourner, Hardiness: 18, Tank or Damage-Dealer Class Tree, Level: 6

  Description: Base defensive value of shield increased by 50%. Time required to equip the shield is reduced by 50%. Grants ability to execute a shield bash which is an attack designed to stun the opponent.

  Night’s Eye DominationRarity: Unique

  Pre-requisites: Sojourner, Sagacity: 16, Acuity: 12, Level: 18

  Mana: 4 mana/minute for vision and 50 mana to dominate a creature with 12 mana/minute to maintain control

  Description: 100% night vision. Your eyes have been altered to see in different ways. You may now see in the complete absence of light. Colors may only be perceived in dim light or better.

  You may now mentally communicate at a primal level with any creature who has night vision and an Acuity score of less than 8.